Drone surveillance reveals glacier collapse risk at China-Nepal border

Continuous drone monitoring along the deadly mudslide-hit China-Nepal border indicates that glaciers near a scour pit in a Nepalese river that feeds into China still face a potential collapse, posing major hidden risks, the Ministry of Water Resources said.

Drone footage captured at 8 am on Tuesday shows that the water in the scour pit in Nepal's Chhochen Khola River — which converges with the Purepu Tsangpo River in China — has essentially drained, with normal discharge maintained in its downstream, the ministry said in a media release on Tuesday.

The flows of river channels upstream and downstream of the barrier lake that formed after the mudslide in the Purepu Tsangpo River remain normal, the ministry added.

It said, however, analysis of optical satellite imagery captured at 12:29 pm on Tuesday reveals small-scale landslides along both banks downstream in the barrier lake.

"The river is presently flowing unimpeded, but the danger remains that further landslides could create new barrier lakes," it said.